TIMEOUT: Textin' about that generation

Wasn't it The Who that sang the song "My Generation," the simple, angst-ridden ode of the 1960s that detailed why the decade's kids were cool and why adults just didn't get it?

Well, you can revamp the song and call me one of those adults here in 2010, because I sure didn't get the news coming out of the University of Tennessee last week.

Sophomore running back Bryce Brown elected to tell head football coach Derek Dooley he wouldn't be returning to play for the Volunteers next year - by text message.

That's right. Brown didn't even have the guts to approach his coach face-to-face and make him aware of his intent to leave the program for another school.

There no doubt that confrontation flat out sucks. You run the risk of hurting feelings, inciting arguments or any combination of other awkward moments.

But in some situations, it's unavoidable. Situations that should include something like leaving a team and rescinding a scholarship.

Sometimes, the passive-aggressive approach just doesn't cut it.

I do believe some of this is a generational thing. A recent education story by Abigail Sullivan Moore called "Failure to Communicate" explained today's college students are more likely to text their roommate to address conflict - even when they're in the same room with one another.

I find that to be both humorous and disturbing.

It's tragic that today's youngsters feel safer hiding behind 160 characters and emoticons instead of actual human interaction.

It makes me wonder what the work force will look like in the coming years.

Anyway, I would love to see exactly what Brown's text to Dooley said. Everyone knows you have to abbreviate everything you say to fit within the allotted character count, so just how professional and tactful could the message have been?

"Coach - dcided tenn isnt wrking 4 me. thnk id b happier @ a diff skool so im leavin 4 new opp. thx 4 all uve done - Bryce."

What's interesting is Brown may still encounter a double whammy - he still needs a release from Tennessee before the transfer is official. And it doesn't sound like Dooley considers that text as a notice of intent.

"... Bryce has not come to me, looked me in the eye and said 'I want a release to so-and-so school,'" Dooley said in a recent interview. "At some point, that's got to happen."

So in the end, Brown may still have to use something he was blessed with from birth, before texting and Tweeting and every other social media outlet detached him from the rest of the world with their popularity.

His mouth.

Something he probably should have used all along.